Random

I'm trying to get some pictures from Christmas Eve here in Mexico. Blogger is not cooperating with pictures or video. I think I might not be the only one trying to post pictures or something.

There are few pictures from Christmas Day, because the resident Space Case (me) forgot to buy batteries. (DUH!) The pictures I did get were powered by batteries I stole from my children's most annoying toys. They didn't last too long. (The batteries, that is.)

We did have a wonderful Christmas. This is the first time I made a Christmas feast all by myself, since we've been visiting folks every year so far. Our feast was quite simple, but I ate way too much of it, and enjoyed it immensely. I'm making much use of my Christmas present, which I actually got several weeks ago. A roaster! Yay! I can bake now!

Well that's it for my scattered bits of news. I do plan to post pictures as soon as I can get a web host to do it before 2008.

Wrapping up the story

Meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays left half the campus thinking we were nutty. during the week, someone asked me every day if we hadn't broken up, because we didn't sit together in chapel, or eat lunch together. Here is some of the reasoning for Ryan's decisions to carry on this way. It was good counsel that pointed him in this direction, and I am still thankful to that godly friend of his.

1. In relationships, time together increases a couple's personal knowledge of each other. Spending much time with someone daily gives a lot of knowledge rather quickly. (At our school, that knowledge is gained through conversation, not physical contact, in case you were wondering!) Then there is a problem, because common sense will kick in and tell them that they've shared a special part of themselves with someone they do not know very well. They have not built trust, so they fear that person. Suddenly there is suspicion, which hurts the relationship early on, and many do not survive at this point. A couple that spends their waking hours together has to talk about something. Once they know what the other thinks about surface happenings and life issues, the conversation is driven to topics that are best reserved for someone you can trust and are going to marry. I've personally seen this happen over and over again. So meeting just twice a week gave us a lot to talk about, although we knew each other pretty well already.

2. Another problem with spending an inordinate amount of time with a prospective spouse early on is a Christian ought to be spending an inordinate amount of time in prayer about that spouse. While Ryan was already 100% sure about me, I needed that time. It was then that God gave me assurance that Ryan was God's calling on my life. I've told girls that if they don't carve out time to pray, not regular devotional time, but a hefty hunk of time from their day, they might marry the right person (or not!), but the relationship will not have the safety and assurance of knowing by faith. I know what it's like to have a courtship based on mutual faith, and let me tell you, there's a lot less drama, a lot more peace. As I said before, after that time in prayer, there was never a doubt.

This went on for the rest of the semester. At summer break we went our separate ways, Ryan made plans to come visit my family during towards the end of the break. Ryan was expecting to pop "the question" to my dad, and plan for an engagement maybe during the Christmas break. It didn't quite work out that way. They went out for a long powow at a restaurant. My dad and Ryan both came back from that acting mysterious and grinning fit to split their faces. The next day, Ryan went shopping by himself, and my mom told me to prepare a picnic lunch for a "special date." HM. I wonder what is going on??? He came back and went went for a drive with me to the redwood forest not far from my parent's home. We had our picnic there and he asked me to marry him. Then he told me how God had shown him that I was going to be his wife from the Bible. He also told me how the restaurant visit with my dad went.

My dad: Do you love my daughter?

Ryan: Yes.

My dad: Have you told her so?

Ryan: No, I'm waiting till I ask her to marry me.

My dad: Well you have my permission! When were you going to ask her?

Ryan: (In a little shock) Uh, whenever's a good time...

My dad: How about tomorrow?

Ryan: Yeah!

The rest, as they say, is history folks! We got married four days after graduation. We've worked together in our home church, done deputation with toddlers, and served the Lord here in Mexico. There is nothing in the world so good as serving God in the capacity He made you for! I love it!

Ruth gets creamed by a giant ball

Stop the world! I'm dizzy and I want to get off! Yes I've still got another installment of our story up my sleeve. I'm postponing it again though, due to another visit with the dreaded stomach virus. David's taking it for the first time like a little trooper. Unlike his sisters, he seems to think everything is normal between explosive episodes, and can't quite figure out why he's so hungry. He started walking (well, it's running really, just not very well) last week, so you never know where the next eruption is going to happen.
See you later, when I'm less scattered.

*****yawn*****

Well, it was a great Sunday, and I really enjoyed being able to go to church, since the galloping yucks have been galloping among the Case children (and the Case parents too) for several weeks. I was unable to go to church for much longer than I am comfortable with. I love church! Why do people try to avoid it?

Anyway, that said, I'm pretty beat. I'll do another post about our mushy story this week soon, but this chick needs to go look at her eyelids for a while.

I leave you with this (Fine art by my five year old):

Prayer Request!

I'd like to ask any Christian reading to head over to Rita's blog, read her urgent prayer request, and pray for our brethren in the Lord over there in Venezuela. It looks like that wicked man is preparing his people for a bloodbath of any with the courage to have another allegiance than him. Pray for them today!

The plot thickens

So I wanted answers from Ryan. I was uncomfortable with several things. 1. The man needed to tell me what his intentions were. I was not going to “date” someone just to have a boyfriend. 2. I told my parents everything, and they had given me their blessing, but I wanted Ryan to go to them himself and put himself under their authority as far as I was concerned. 3. This hanging out thing was making me vaguely nervous. Before the spring break, we had spent about two weeks, taking nearly all our spare time together. Something told me this wasn’t healthy, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

When I saw Ryan after the spring break, I cut right to the chase. I opened my mouth to say, “We need to talk!” And instead I heard those very words coming from him. “Great!”

We sat down and he dove in,

“I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer about this, and I don’t want to scare you away, so tell me if I’m going too fast here. From now on, I would like to court you for the purpose of marriage. God showed me while you were gone that you were going to be my wife, and I want to make it clear what we are doing and where we are going with it.”

OOOOOOKAAAAAY! If I needed clarification, it doesn’t get much clearer than that! You know when I tell this to young ladies, their eyes get wide, and they shake their head in wonder that I didn’t run for the hills. But I couldn’t run from this one, because point by point, Ryan began to tell me every single concern that was on my heart, and address those concerns, even things I never told anyone, like how uncomfortable I was of the “dating scene”. He went on.

“First, I need to talk to your parents and get their permission to court you.”

Check #2 topic to discuss.

“If they say yes, we are going to have rules.”

Rules???

“We’ve got plenty of time to build a relationship and get to know one another. We don’t need to spend every waking moment together. I’d like to have two days a week together. The rest of the time, you take praying and seeking the Lord about me.”

Ok, you have to admit with me, that one was weird. I had never heard anything like that before, and I wasn’t too sure about it at first. But there was this nudging of the Spirit telling me that every one of the things I had prayed about was answered just now, and like it or not, it was the work of the Lord.

I told him yes, we’ll do it, and we went to call my parents. Then I asked him how he “knew”. He said, “I’ll tell you later.” I didn’t get to hear the next part till after we were engaged!

If you’ve stuck around this long, Reader, you are to be congratulated! This is the best part, I promise! Well, *I* like it anyway.

This is how Ryan “knew”. He fasted and prayed about me, because it was obvious to him that the Lord was doing something. Ten days into his fast, he was (I can’t imagine why) hungry. He was getting ready to read his morning Bible passage, and he prayed, “Lord, I would like to eat today. If you want me to end my fast, I pray that you would let me know! I’m hungry! And would you let me know if Sarah is going to be my wife?”

Then he opened his Bible to the passage he had been reading daily in, which was Ecclesiastes 9:7-9;

(7) Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
(8) Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
(9) Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun.

Guess it doesn't get more clear than that either.

The time I had to pray really solidified it for me. God made it 100% clear to me that this was God's plan for my life. I'll be honest, there were a few moments of doubt. That time in prayer gave God the opportunity to dig down into my heart and show me that there was still a root of fear. When I finally gave that fear to God and surrendered to Him completely, my heart was still enough to hear His still, small voice, which was saying, "Go for it!" After that, there was never a moment of doubt.

Well there's more and I'm out of time again! Next time I'll talk about meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays, people thinking we were crazy, and an engagement that surprised Ryan! (Thanks Dad! :D)

More Mush! :D

I tried to figure out how to go on with the story where I left off, but I have to backtrack a little bit. I am amazed by God's perfect timing, and His wonderful patience with me. I really struggled in the area of surrender to God's will, and for years, I didn't even realize how stubborn I was being.

I would pray, "God, I will do anything you ask me to! Please use me. Anything."

God would say, "What about this?" "This" was not always missions; just something I was not willing to do. Usually though, it was missions. Every time I saw a missionary family, or read a biography, His still, small voice would whisper, "What about this? What if this was my plan for your life?"

I had a well prepared answer that worked well for me. "Well! That's not my calling! I'm not called to 'missions'! I don't even have to think about that!" On to the next thing! (Quickly!)

Such a patient, loving Savior we have! And so meek! I had no idea how disgusted God is by rebellion. He still blessed me, loved me, led me, and helped me grow. Then one day it changed, because God had mercy on me, and gave me a little glimpse of His heart, where my heart was concerned.

I was walking down the hallway in the North Auditorium at the church, heading to class, and I passed by a room where a student was kneeling to pray. This fellow did this often, and I knew who it was immediately. I felt that Holy Spirit question again, "What if I called you to marry someone like that?" Well I knew it was most definitely not going to be someone like that, because that particular individual was outspokenly called to the mission field. On to the next thing!

God had other plans. Five steps down the hallway, I was brought to a complete stop. Somehow through my stubborn, blind self-will, God saw fit to show me what He thought of my attitude. It's difficult to describe, but it almost made me want to throw up. Do you know that when we deceive ourselves into thinking we are spiritual and godly, when we aren't, it makes God sick? I know that first hand! I know this overwhelming emotion did not come from me. So I was faced with a choice. Make that "Anything" promise real, or cover up that putrid, filthy, festering corner of my heart and go on with self deception. I broke, and right there I made it real. What is my life if God can't, or won't use it? Where would I be without Him? I must find my place, wherever it is, whatever it is; the place God made me for.


Just a few days later, I was gathering up the choir books from practice with the college choir. Ryan came with his book, and I took it, and asked him how he was doing. He looked at me strangely a minute, and then answered, and we began to talk. We talked while I put away the choir books. We talked while I gathered up my school books in the back of the room. We talked while we walked to the cafeteria. (It's a long way.) We talked between bites of food. I had no idea that he had prayed halfheartedly about me that very morning. I didn't find that out till much later.

Over the next few days I realized that I needed to spend some time in prayer about this handsome young fellow. We were spending quite a bit of time together. I had no desire to date for the fun of it, even though this was lots of fun, I wanted to know what the man's intentions were. At spring break, I went to Florida, to be in my brother's wedding, and have a heart to heart with my mom and dad. I told them everything, and showed them our emails. I prayed. My parents asked plenty of questions, and gave me their blessing, as long as Ryan got their permission himself. In prayer, God helped me to clear up the questions I had. I needed Ryan to tell me exactly what he wanted to do with this relationship, or we would have to stop spending so much time together. I had no interest in casual dating.

I thought Ryan would be surprised by my deep and straightforward questions. It turned out differently. He had been doing his own praying and seeking God's will, and when I came back, what he had up his sleeve blew my mind.

I think I will be able to wrap it up in the next post.

The Love Story

We met our freshman year at West Coast Baptist College. I remember noticing a young man who always looked excited. Even at breakfast! He would bounce into the room like he was on springs, a great big grin ready to greet the other students. "GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!" While every one else murmured quietly as they nursed their coffee and peered at him out of sleep-heavy eyelids, Ryan's voice filled the room with enthusiasm. "THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HATH MADE!" He would stand in line for breakfast and attempt to carry on a conversation with the sleep-walker next to him in line. "BEAUTIFUL DAY, ISN'T IT!" "mmhm..."

He was hard to miss. I must admit to the fact that I was one of those grunting, coffee slurping sleepwalkers. I didn't know that he was on his first walk of faith. He was thrilled to be saved, thrilled to be out of the world and into God's family, learning how to walk with God. He did grow on me though.

He asked me out to one of the social events. It was a Christmas Banquet. I went and enjoyed his company, and we ate some meals in the cafeteria together afterwards and sat in chapel together a few times. I knew he was interested, but we weren't dating. (In my opinion!)

At Christmas break, I thought and prayed a little more about letting him continue to pursue me, and the more I thought and prayed, the more uncomfortable I was about it. I needed to focus on the task at hand, and get going as a student. The Lord made it clear that this was a bad time for distractions. So after the break, I told him what I was thinking, and he agreed.

That's my story anyway. Ryan says I fell out of God's will and dumped him. (He's joking.)

Fast forward to the second semester of our sophomore year. Ryan had a roomate who had become my friend because we were in a lot of ministries together. One night while Ryan was trying to sleep, his roomate said, "Hey! I know the perfect girl for you!" out of the blue.

"What! I'm trying to sleep!"

"No c'mon! I know just the one!"

"Ok, tell me fast, because I want to be asleep."

"Sarah Margerison!"

"No way! She dumped me our freshman year!"

"Promise me you'll pray about it?"

"Sure, just let me go to sleep!"

The next morning, he remembered his promise, and prayed briefly in order to keep his word, "Lord, if you will open a door, I'll go through it."

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Actually, there is a lot more, and the best part of our courtship is yet to come, but I'm out of time, so you'll have to wait!

Another home remedy

This one was developed by my daughter, who is a natural problem solver. Now don't knock it till you've tried it. Our home has been hit by the seasonal viruses, and I am teaching my children the proper, civil, non-disgusting way to be sick. Your sleeve is NOT a napkin. Neither is your skirt. Neither is my skirt. Or my shirt. And you may not walk around with snot hanging off your lip. I'm sorry, I'm just unreasonable that way. What is a pocketless child to do?
Please scroll down to see genius at work in our home...

Mishmash

I wanted to put the picture in my header because it was taken on Christmas day. Neat huh? I was reminded of it yesterday at sunset when I went outside for a minute and was simply blown away by a gorgeous rainbow. From the other side of the sky, the sunset light shone all around it, and it was glowing. Don't you love God's promises?

Rainbows don't show up every day around here. I envy people who live in places where they get to see a lot of them. They are a wonderful reminder not only of the promise of God to Noah, but also of God's promises to us, and His faithfulness to keep all His promises. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise. So I put a promise about Him in the header for my Christmas decoration.

Other news on the family front: The "season of sneezin' " that I talked about before caught up with us in a big way, and we are hacking and snuffing our way through the week. (With some wonderful tea to help us sleep at night, I might add.) I'll add a post tomorrow about what I've been doing to prevent the ever-present river of gunk from clogging up and causing mischief in my sinuses.

Yes! I admit it!

I'm an amateur! I stink at this whole blog design template thing. I will keep playing on it when I have time. HA! Time doesn't grow on trees around here...

I promise not to leave it with painful combinations of flouresent colors.

A helpful home remedy

Well, it's the season of snot, and sore throats in the Northern Hemisphere. I thought I would put my favorite home remedy here for anyone to try. For sore throats and especially for coughing that needs to be broken up, I make oregano tea. I got the idea from the book Home Remedies: What Works: Thousands of Americans reveal their favorite home tested cures for everyday health problems. This book is from the makers of Prevention Magazine. They asked their readers to send in their favorite home remedies, and then checked them with doctors and scientists. So you not only get the remedy, but the reason why it would work, along with safety guidelines. This is my favorite cough remedy, and I've added a couple other things to it.

Pour boiling water over 1/2 tsp or less of dried oregano. Watch it while stirring, and as soon as the water is a nice yellow color, strain the leaves out. I use a mesh strainer, although I have also put the oregano in a coffee filter and wrapped it with a twist tie. Do not over steep it till it is dark yellow. YUK. Add honey to taste.

This really helps to sooth the throat and also keep the fluid "Coughable". I used to get bronchial infections, and sometimes bronchitis every year with my colds and flues, and now I use this to keep it loose, and I haven't had a secondary infection since I started doing it.

Now for my own additions: If you have anise, (Tastes like lichorich) it gives a wonderful throat numbing sensation, and I have also added bay leaves crunched up for a mentholy type of feeling. But the thing that does the trick is the oregano. Both of my additions, in my opinion, greatly improve the flavor.

When one of my kids gets sick, I make this, and all of a sudden I hear fake coughing from every one else cause they want some too. It helps with that TICKLE THAT DRIVES YOU NUTS AND KEEPS YOU FROM SLEEPING!!! AAAAUGHH!! You know what I mean.

The other thing I must do to avoid those pesky sinus infections is a bit more extreme, but it works as well. If you don't mind feeling like you are drowning yourself deliberately.

Happy Cold Season!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my faithful readers! We will be eating our feast tomorrow with a missionary family here, and I am making a couple of pies and flan. Last night we had hot cocoa, cider, and everyone put something in the Thanksgiving box. This is a box with a slot, that we will put things we are thankful for throughout the year, and around Thanksgiving, pull it out and put the things in a scrapbook. This will be the first year we do it officially, although I've been putting stuff in the box periodically. I want the kids to look back at the year and see how we can be thankful in any situation.

Which brings me to my own thankful list. I could do the long one, involving all the members of my precious family, every good thing that happened to us this past year, every thing I have that I enjoy. I'd be remiss not to include every single unpleasant thing that happened to us also, because God not only says He can make good come out of "all things" in the lives of those who love Him and are called to His purpose, but He also commands us to give thanks in every thing. So I can include the "junk", because of the grace He provided in it, the good He will do with it, and the lessons I learned about Him from it.

But instead of all those things, I'm going to just say I'm most thankful for my Lord Jesus. Without Him, all those things in life are vanity. He brings purpose to not only my blessings, but also my trials, and He brings confidence and peace in the face of my fears. I can trust Him with my eternity, my immediate future, my family, and even my failures. I've been eaten up with the need, the hunger to know Him better, to be His friend. He's been mine, that's for sure!

I've always thought that Thanksgiving is the perfect context to introduce the Christmas season, Let's carry that spirit into our celebration of Christ, and not forget His mercies to us!

"Mommy, Mommy! Come see!"

"ONE OF THE GOBBLES! HAS BABY GOBBLES! THEY'RE SO CUTE!!!!!"


Rebecca, on the growing turkey family on the ranch.

Veteran's Day

Tonight I was watching a moving tribute to America's veterans, and my daughter walked in and started watching with me. She asked me, "What are those crosses for? They're very beautiful!" (Yes, she does talk like this, at five years old. "Very beautiful" is one of her favorite things to say.)

I took a while answering. I don't like her to see me cry. Finally I just dove in. "Those crosses are markers where they bury the bodies of soldiers. The soldiers had to go fight and stop people who want to hurt America. Those people hate that we can chose to do what we believe is right, and they want to make us worship their God, or kill us if they can. The soldier's job is to stop them, and they are fighting, and getting hurt, and sometimes they get killed. When they are killed, their bodies are sent back in a coffin with a flag on it, and they take it to this graveyard. They fold the flag up and give it to the soldier's family, and then they put the soldier's body in the ground."

She sat in silence as pictures flashed across the screen. A young boy not much older than she was, wearing a suit, receives a folded flag from white gloved hands. A young woman lays her head on her husband's coffin. A weeping couple at their daughter's funeral.

"Mommy, why are they crying?"

I said, "Honey, they lost someone they love, because that person was a soldier who was killed. It makes me cry too."

She looked at me, "If it makes you cry, don't watch it!"

"The Bible says there is a time to laugh, and a time to cry. And it also says we should weep with those who are crying. Sometimes it's good to know something and be sad. Then we can pray for someone or try to help them."

She watched the rest of it with me. It wasn't a conversation with earth-shattering revelation. In the interest of keeping it G-rated, I didn't give much more information, but information that was important. I think she understood enough though. While I was tucking her in bed she said, "Mommy? Can we pray now for the soldiers?"

Yes! Let's pray for them, past, present, and future! I don't have the words to express my gratitude to them for their gift of love and sacrifice. I thank God every day that each generation of Americans has seen heroes like this, giving freedom to the next generation. God bless them, protect them, and give them victory today!

Veterans-Day-Tribute - Get Video Code

Wooo Hoooo! Home again!

We had a great trip! Our van even got some R&R with the mechanic and she is running smooth and high on new shocks and struts. Mexican roads have never felt so good! Wind blew much fine, red dirt into our house and I'm sweeping, wiping, and sneezing it up while unpacking, so the next few days will be pretty busy taking care of that.

I LOVE BEING HOME!

Missions Conference

We were able to attend our home church Mission's Conference this past week. I love my church! My husband was saved there, and this was where we started our ministry. I love being in any missions conference, but there is something really special about being in the conference at our own church, and being able to give to missions, being a part of what God is doing with our church. Check out the link on the side bar for Lighthouse Baptist Church, and see our church programs and ministries!

Faithful Love

The silver beard was wet with tears,
As cloudy eyes looked up in grateful praise,
The father who through lonely years
Had waited for this, the day of days.

The father knelt in a dusty path,
Clutched a sobbing, filthy vagabond against his breast,
The boy had come expecting wrath,
He should have known his father loved him best.

The only thing the boy had brought
When he had gone out full of wealth and pride
Was a broken heart, repentance wrought,
But this heart his father could not have deigned.

To be loved so well by One so great,
Love that waits, and grieves through long nights alone,
Love that is patient, will never abate
Waiting, ready to forgive the lost and erring son

Thank you Father for waiting for me,
Thank you for waiting though rebellion and strife,
Hating the sin, but wanting me free,
To love you again, to serve you with my life.

Father, take me and use me I plead,
The least in Your house is more than I can ask,
For I am famished, poor and in need,
Let me please come home, give me the lowest task.

What is this robe? This ring?
This celebration? Am I forgiven? Is it true?
I’ll never ever cease to sing,
I‘ll always serve, and praise, and honor You!

No, I was not corrupted!

I am being asked if I faltered over the temptation offered me, which I talked about in the previous post.

No, I did not. It broke my heart, but I was strong.

And I think Ryan did shaow with me at the end of the day.

The Crafty One

I love Jalapeño Potato Chips. The ones you get in the United States are BLAH, but here, there is this zing, and a nose-tingling spicy bite as well. I gain four ounces every time I think about them. We were surprised to find little beggars at our ankles every time we break open a pack. Never ones to withhold goodness from our children, we have kids who will sit happily with tear-filled eyes eating spicy salsa, chips, or Mexican chili candy. (On a side note, why is it "too spicy, Mommy!" when it's something they don't like???)

My husband will come in with a bag he bought and tourture us for several days not eating it, and not letting us eat it, because it's his. Then he will open it, and contend with four beggers and one wife who will not beg, but sneaks a longing look at the bag periodically. He usually leaves a little over half the bag for us-he's generous.

One day a little more than a year ago, he was not feeling generous for some reason. there was the green potato chip bag sitting at his desk, half eaten. My mouth began to water as he was getting ready to go out and work with someone, but the last thing he said to me was, "Don't touch my potato chips!" Then he left. I'm not sure what possessed him to do something so cruel, as he's not normally a mean person, but you know, we all have our bad days. So I went about my day, determined to ignore the salivating I experienced every time I looked at that open bag of chips.

I guess I was not the only one. Becca is four now, but at this time, she was only two and a half. She was already trying out ways to manipulate us. Suddenly she came running in to where I was, panting effectively, eyes wide. She said, "I scaowed Mommy!" (scared, for those not fluent in toddlerish.) She had no solid reason for being "scaowed", no unusual noises, nothing going on, and finally I asked her, after much fruitless searching for the cause of her fear, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I want Daddy!"

"Well, Daddy's not here right now, but he'll be back tonight." Here I was thinking, Aw, that's so cute, she wants her Daddy.

"I could eat Daddy's chips!"

I was a little stunned at this, then gave a shout of laughter, which broke down her little game. She was ready to go for broke. She gave me a hug looked at me earnestly, and said, "Mommy, we could shaow!"

Smooch!

In God's Hand

When I was younger, we had a dog who lived in a kennel, which was made out of chicken wire, and covered on the top. One day it was my job to put the dog in the kennel for the night, and I noticed a drab little brown bird was in our German shepherd’s kennel. I tried to shoo her out, but she was terrified of me. While the dog was delighted with the possibility of spending the night with this delectable little tidbit, I decided I had to get her out of there or I would worry about that bird all night long. So I went about to catch her. It was not easy. She simply refused to go near the opening, and I finally caught her with my hands and took her out. By this time there was little life left in the poor thing. (More than if the dog had done the catching!) Many flight feathers were gone, and the bird was panting with its beak open. I set her down and watched for a while and she eventually recovered and flew away.

Why am I saying this? I want to talk about humility.

1Pe 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: (7) Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Humbling ourselves means we let God take us in His hand. If we act like a wild bird, thrashing and fighting over everything that looks frightening to us, we will only destroy our own lives. We need to stop fighting, fold the wings, and trust that God is good, and will take care of us.

I wonder how many times I’ve frustrated God by my worry and fret, or by resistance and anger when He only wants to help me? I wonder how much pain I’ve brought into my own life by thrashing around for my survival instead of putting it in His hand and letting Him have His way in my life?

Cooking questions from Susan at ByGrace

So what kind of cook are you? Meat-and-potatoes? Gourmet? Or somewhere in between?

Meat-and rice! And tortillas, or pasta and sauce. And salad. During winter-lots of soups and stews.

What's your favorite cookbook/cooking magazine?

Right now I'm really enjoying the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, but I usually have to adapt a recipe a little so my hubby likes it better.

What is usually in your pantry, your staple ingredients that you can't do without?

Rice, pasta, beans, canned cubed tomatoes and tomato paste, potatoes, onions and garlic, and the baking supplies that I make waffles with.

What is your favorite type of dish to cook: main dish, sides, breads, desserts?

Spaghetti-I love making it.

Do you have a signature recipe, one that everyone knows you for?

Oh no I don't think so, not yet.

What's your favorite appliance or gadget that you couldn't get along without?

Well I could get along without it if I had to, but I love my rice cooker! I use it nearly every day.

And finally, what is your husband's favorite recipe that you fix? You know, the one that says "I love you - this is especially for you!"

That would be pizole right now. I gave up making it for a while because I had flopped so badly the last few times I made it. Then I got step by step instructions on how to make it good by someone who knows how. I made it last week, and my husband was very, very happy with it. I have to admit, it was pretty good! The thing that Ryan is so excited about is that now all I have to do to make his favorite meal of all time is to make it with beef tripe. Then you have menudo. I only tried making menudo one time. After all the work, cleaning (YUK) and cutting the fat off, and cleaning again and cutting it up, I was told the canned menudo was better. (Internet recipe-something of a gamble anyway.) Now I can do it right, and Ryan loves that stuff. He will have all kinds of warm fuzzys when I do it. I think I'll make it a holiday thing.

Ruth hugs Grandma

More pictures!

I was walking through Walmart with Rebecca and David, and thinking that it was time for another contentment lecture. I had the nerve to walk through the toy section, which had toys of all kinds, particularly the kinds that Rebecca likes so well. Her eyes glazed over a little at the wonder of so many things that she wanted. Then she started asking for them. I dutifully repeated "No." for a few isles, then we passed the bikes. There was a beautiful little pink bike with flowers and ribbons on the handles. "Can I have a bike?! Please! Please? PLEEEEEEASE?!!!"

It was time. I drew out my contentment lecture and started in. I pontificated on the perils of discontentment, the wonderful things she had that she needed to be thankful for, and how it's not bad to want things, but it is bad when wanting something makes us unthankful for our blessings. I went on for quite a while, and my daughter became quiet. I'm not sure if it was the deep wisdom of my words, or the fact that she was now bored out of her mind, but I was satisfied that the begging had come to and end, and pleased with myself, we proceeded to the check out. Where I found my husband. In his cart was that cute little pink bike with flowers and ribbons on the handles!

Way to back me up, Babe!

The fear of man is a snare

I have become increasingly convinced of a social, spiritual change taking place among those in America who call themselves political conservatives, and Christians

Here it is; compromise with the enemies of our most basic beliefs and convictions for the sake of securing our country reveals that we have completely lost our fear of God, and furthermore, that He is not the One we depend upon to guard and protect us. I say this because there is a candidate courting the conservatives and Christians who is openly pro-abortion. He gave some lame attempt at a mealy mouth appeasement of our beliefs, but there is no doubt as to where his beliefs and convictions lie, and where his vote will be, or his court appointments. I know there are other candidates, but this man seems to be the “front runner”.

I have heard, on the internet, on the radio, and among my friends hither and yon that the time has come to lay aside our differences to take care of the need at hand, which is national security. These are Christians, people of faith.

Yes! I know the radical Jihadists want to convert or kill all Americans! Yes! I know that the country is in danger, but may I ask, just those who claim the name of Christ: Who do you really fear in the long run? God or man? Do you fear that God is removing, bit by bit, the protections that our nation has enjoyed since the beginning? He has been unbelievably merciful to us over the years, in providing protection and victory over and over again. We can not succeed in our current struggle if we suddenly try to do it without Him, by electing people who “can beat the other side”.

I would rather the “other side” got elected than for America’s Christians to elect a man to protect them who would send the nation deeper under the shadow of the wrath of God. That man is not going to save us from Islamofacists. God can. I will not vote for someone who has denied his conscience so far that he believes completely innocent human life is trumped by someone’s personal choice.

It grieves me to see God’s people capitulate on these things. We should not be saying, “He’s the lesser of two evils, and he’s right on national security!” We should be saying, “How can I secure the blessing of God on my country?”

File under: Things I Never Thought I Would Say

"Elisabeth, do not pour water on the floor and lick it up."

Do unto others...

In the spirit of Christ's admonition that I am working with vigor at teaching my youngun's, I must remove the word verification. I just attempted to leave a comment on a friend's blog, and found myself saying, "I hate these stupid word verification thingies! Don't they know I'm dyslexic???" Then I remembered that I had installed that very same thing in my own blog to get rid of the spammers. So I will bear the burden of those pesky comments. Don't think I'm moderating comments because anyone was naughty.

To those of you who check in to see if I'm still alive...

Thank you! I am and so glad of it! I've been putting my home back in order from traveling, which always take way more time than I think it should. The kids has lots of fun, but they are very happy to be back.

When we walked in the door on Tuesday, we immediately noticed a propain smell all over the house. We searched high and low, but didn't find anything, and found out the next day what had happened while we were gone. Our apartment could easily have been blown into the stratosphere on Sunday. (Last Sunday) The regulator was broken on the gas tank outside our window. It was overfilled and then during the night it forced propain into all the apartments. Our neighbors noticed the smell in their homes on Sunday before church and turned their stoves off, but it was pouring out in our apartment, and we weren't there. That night, someone realized that they needed to go into our place and turn off the stove. It was bad in there. One spark, and the whole thing would have gone, along with the tank. They opened the windows to air it out, but it needed another day of airing before it was livable. We are thanking the Lord for His protection of the families here and of our home!

MIA!

We've been all over California during the past two weeks, and was it ever a blast! We visited grandparents and several churches along the way, and we are back. I've got stuff to blog, which I will do when I get the chance. Knowing me-I may be able to get it in before the month is over.

Sure is good to be home!

Here is the context to the adorible "angry eyes" picture.

I hope you all don't think I'm sadistic at what I think is funny, but the other day, Elisabeth came wandering in from her nap, looking-well, bad. She sweats like no one I've ever seen, and also spends most of her nap twisting that sweaty hair with a finger. I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures, and here they are. The eyes was the last one, and so we all know that the correct caption should be; "GET THAT THING OUT OF MY FACE!" Although I really liked "What was that I just ate?" (thanks, mom!) Knowing Elisabeth, it could be true!

So here she is folks! One woebegone little snuggle bug. I laugh out loud for real every time I see these pictures.

The last one was taken two hours later, just to let you all know she isn't always such a mess.

Caption contest!

Give me a caption for this picture. I did this on a forum I'm on and it was fun, so I thought I would share it with my vast readership. In a couple days I will share some other pictures that will give the context of this one.

No, you may not have a cake sandwich.

I actually said this to my five year old tonight with a straight face and didn't laugh till afterwards. It's amazing how many absurd things pop out of your mouth when talking to the -5 set, and you would never have imagined the need to say such a thing.
Incidentally, here are some pictures of the cake sandwich dreamer herself. (Just for the grandparents!)

Things to do:

Give your children strong refrigerator magnets. (This worked best with the 5&4 year olds.)
Tell them to go find things that are metal, demonstrate how the magnet sticks to metal, but not to wood or glass or plastic or you.
Admonish them that if they get something out to test it they have to put it back-if you skip this step, you will rue the day you ever read this.
Remember, as they are prancing about the room with their magnets stuck to forks and measuring cups and singing the impromptu “metal song”, which is annoying, but less annoying than, say, Barney; that they are learning something, happy and occupied and go do something quick before they get distracted!

Call me Mrs. Case, or Space if you want to.

I have to tell on myself because this is so funny I can't keep it to myself.

It all started with a crabby, teething little baby boy-it is good to have someone to blame it on... I was trying to feed him before church-nothing doing. He struggled and fought when anything touched his gums no matter what it was. (Tooth just breaking the surface.) Finally I looked at the clock and realized I was running late. Remember that I live right on the church campus. Out my front door to the left is the temple where they hold adult services, and to the right across the dirt parking lot is the trailer where the nursery is. Behind our apartments are parked buses that are converted into classes. Ruth and Rebecca were already there, because Ryan took them, and he was waiting for me in the service. I locked the front door, baby on hip, purse on arm and Elisabeth in hand.

The moment I shut the door I had this sinking feeling. What is wrong? Why is there this klaxon going off in my head like I just sealed the gate of doom? I looked at my feet. I was wearing house slippers. They were flip flop types, with no piece between the toe. Very casual. Not only that, worn to shreds. But over my nylons. Yes, very geeky.

And that was not all, oh no. I took the babies to their class, and walk/ran to the temple, thankful that the service was starting late, (Mexico is wonderful that way) and made my confession to Ryan. I pointed at my peeping toes and said, "Just look at what I noticed right after I locked the door!"

He looked at me unbelievingly, like I was joking.

"Keys, please! I have to get back!"

"You're kidding me."

"No I'm not, look at my flip flops! C'mon!" (Outstretched hand dancing impatiently.)

"Sarah, I don't have the keys."

(This explains the klaxon.)

SO, after the invitation, while they were taking a special offering for something, I slipped out, got my most agile child out of her class in the bus (Ruth) took a screen off one of my windows, opened it, and put her inside to open the door for me. All the while grinning sheepishly at the ushers who were walking by laughing at me.

Oh, I almost forgot. Remember the whole baby fighting off dinner incident??? After I sat down for the service, feet tucked firmly under my chair, I looked down at my dress, and there, I saw my son's dinner on my chest. I must have looked funny hugging my open Bible on top of my purse in the back of the church with my feet under my chair. OH WELL! Praise the Lord it was a great service! I am sure no one noticed, you know how it is when you feel like the dorkiest person alive though...

Visit from Grandma

My husband's mom came down for a week to visit. Here are some pictures of the fun we had.

Crime spree!

It seems our butter thief is expanding her horizons.

This is a jar of peanut butter that has been mauled by what appears to be two-year-old human fingers. If our suspicions are correct, it means we have a repeat offender, and no butter in our home is safe until the suspect is apprehended, or at least put to bed for the night.

The Plague

It seems we had a rather peculiar illness strike our home, but all the humans were spared. It struck the dolls pretty harshly, as you can see, their mommies had their hands full.

My kids play what they know, and, well, they know about puking. We affectionately call it "the twister". Even David was generously given a bucket, but he showed no symptoms. You might think my kids are weird now, but I thought this was hilarious.

About the video below

Ok that was fun! I was just messing around with the video of David below-as you can see he was far more interested in that thing in my hand than in doing anything cute. I couldn't figure out how to listen to the music offered either. So I just picked one out of the classical selection.

This was a couple of weeks ago before David learned how to crawl. If I did it today, you would probably get rather dizzy bouncing around as I chase him with the camera.

David

My thoughts on politics (just few of them anyway)

Psalms 10:1-18
(1) Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
(2) The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
(3) For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
(4) The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
(5) His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
(6) He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
(7) His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
(8) He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
(9) He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
(10) He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
(11) He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
(12) Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
(13) Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
(14) Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
(15) Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
(16) The LORD is King forever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
(17) LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
(18) To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Politics and world events are not encouraging to the Christian. We see death being raised up by wicked men as a suitable solution to the consequences of sin, and the simple problems of life. These same people faint at the very idea of a person willing to use the sword of justice God gave to human authority in order to protect or to bring justice. Lying is expected and encouraged. Someone who is unwilling to lie politically is generally castigated as a radical because when he speaks, actual, clear, precise thoughts are formed. Society is much more comfortable with words that do not apply to any specific position. They call it "reaching across the isle", but when men speak outrageous evil they turn a deaf ear. (Make no mistake, this is not political correctness; this is raw fear.)

May I offer a different perspective? The Christian is a child of God first. Not that the wickedness of this world, or God's judgement should not affect us, but we must by faith believe that He is good. We must serve Him regardless of the circumstances; in blessing and in testing. We must be grieved by His grief, and find peace in His will. I think sometimes we are more grieved by those things we see that are the result of wickedness, which is natural, but spiritual eyes are first moved by the things that move God's heart, and they are steadfast at all other times, because God provides strength to those who seek Him.

I believe now is the time for Christians all over the world to choose the fear of God over the fear of man.

I know that my blogging is not usually political, but I don't see this as political. It has been in my heart to say for a long time, as the left in the U.S. is cranking out more threats and intimidation every day and the world is less and less stable, I started out serving God by being completely dependant on Him, and in that area, nothing has changed. I do believe He wants to change my heart, to break it for the the wickedness all around me, so I can be used as He wants to use His people.

THEY KEEP GROWING!

Gotta post a new picture!

Get a load of those dimples! Have you ever seen anything so cute?

Random topic.

We've been quite busy this week with odds and ends. My husband went on a three day trip for a Bible Conference a hundred miles away. The girls occupied themselves by getting sick right after he left. They are so sweet and they know how it distresses me to be "home alone" so they decided to give me lots of stuff to do, like cleaning up their beds and dumping buckets. Ryan is back now, and they are getting better. I need to take care to fatten them up, though.

I am amazed by how mooshy a mama's heart can get when those little ones get sick. Did they stay in their comfortable beds? No. Did they lay on the couch where I put their blankets and pillows? No. Did they snuggle down under my covers in my bed? (It's toddler heaven, getting to lay under mom and dad's comforter!) No. The majority of the day, they followed me around with a blanket and pillow, and wherever I was working, they would lay down on their blanket on the linoleum right by my feet. Guess they wanted to be near me. And my heart is one big skooshy puddle. Sigh-I just love them to pieces. Goodnight all! We are gonna get some much needed rest!

Enough procrastinating

The purse meme: Here it is in all its glory.

Two diapers, size 3.

One pull up with Bugs Bunny, size 3T-4T. (It's the wrong size for Elisabeth, but that's what Ryan picked up, and I'm not complaining!)

My wallet

my makeup bag.

a wad of napkins from an unknown fast food resauraunt.

A F.R.A.N. prayer card.

A band-aid, cause you never know.

The checkbook.

A thank-you card that I wrote for someone and never gave them.

A card from a dear friend with a picture of their family.

A sugar-free menthol Ricola wrapper.

An old shopping list.

A notebook.

Another notebook. (I have a thing about cute notebooks.)

Post-it notes.

A child made Christmas ornament.

A comb.

A bracelet.

Three pens.

A halls wrapper.

Vannilla flavored hand cream.

A bath wand. (Child's toy-you stick a little tablet in it and wave it around in the bath water and it changes the color of the water.)

Post it notes with pictures of cats, horses, dogs, butterflies, and bees on them. (Waiting in line with children.)

A clothspin. (Because, you never know!)

A dry baby wipe.

Four reciepts that I need to give Ryan.

At the bottom is glitter and sequins from the Christmas ornament, and

three pennies.

There it is, better late than never! Thanks Jungle Mom!

Temptation fighting power from God to you.

I'm home from church tonight with a sickie. Let's see how well I can make a post with a little snotty grumpster in my lap. Good thing is, most of this was already done! On to something that has helped me more than I can say.

Again, if you are not walking with God every day, these things are just an exercise. But God has provided a way to escape temptation, if we will just avail ourselves of it. See 1 Cor. 10:13. Use the things God says in scripture will help you fight temptation.

1. Pray-cry out, “Lord, help!” Peter had the right idea, when he was in trouble, he knew just what to do. When we fail, we ought to follow his excellent example. David also had the right idea. Psalm 4:1 “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.“


2. “Lord, I praise your name!” God inhabits the prayers of His people. Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Besides, it bugs the devil!)

3. Scripture. The catch for this one is, you have to have scripture in your mind in order for it to work. God will not pour new revelation into your mind at the time of temptation. But He will use His Word that is there. Say the first verse that comes to mind after calling on the Lord. Even if it is “Jesus wept”. You’d be amazed how appropriate the verse is when you have called on the name of the Lord. He knows just the thing for you.

4. Song. I'm having trouble coming up with just a few verses to show this one. How about, the entire book of Psalms? Just go read it right now and see if that convinces you that people who sang songs to and about God got comfort and strength in their trial and temptation. Or maybe this one from Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Begin singing your favorite hymn. Or, sing the first one that comes to mind. God invented music, and He made in us a powerful response to it, so be careful to choose music that will strengthen your relationship with God and your understanding of His holiness. Bring into your life music that draws your heart nigh to His in love. Do not underestimate the power of music. Use it for what God made it for!

5. Take yourself away, and I'm not talking about Calgon! Don’t stand there reveling in your victory. If you can, physically move yourself away from the place, the activity, the whatever it is that weakens you, or that can get you when you are weak. In Gen. 40, Joseph runs from Potipher's wife, and the reason he gives is telling, "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Do you love God more than these? Get it out of your life altogether if you have to. Matt. 5:29-30

6. Get busy! Do something that God WANTS you to do. Get involved in work, ministry, something that is positive for God.

These things are going to do several things.

--They will make God’s power available to you. You will be intensely appealing to God when casting yourself on Him, praising His name, Using His Word, singing praise to His name, and showing Him that you are so committed to His will that you will do what it takes to remove the temptation. He loves to see that in His children, and loves to help them too.

2. You will draw closer to God. After you are done with all that, you will be able to thank God for the temptation because you have a better relationship with God now than at the beginning-it is glorious how God can use all thing to the good if we love Him! (That sounds good, it must be in the Bible somewhere!)

3. You will make Satan sick. For real. You will weaken him, frighten him, dismay him and discourage him! He will want to get away from you as fast as he can. I am not making this up. It says so in the book. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” You just have to resist him with God’s tools, not yours.

And remember, the temptation to fight the devil without God’s power is a temptation of the devil in itself. We ought not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We do not have much to offer God, but He desires to use us and He can and will. We need Him and He is eager to help us! 1Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

Temptation Fighting

Most of my blog readers may find the next few posts rudimentary. (That is with the exception of the purse meme, which I will do when I get to my purse, which I believe in on the bottom of the closet. Thanks Jungle Mom, I need to clean it out anyway -both my purse and my closet. I'll post before I do that!) Anyway, the Lord has been speaking to me about the subject of temptation. The vast majority of this comes from some lessons on fighting temptation at my home church, and it has been a blessing to me.

The biggest battle we face, whether pastor's kid, student, teacher, choir member, or missionary, is the battle to walk with God faithfully. Right now my life is full to overflowing with things like diapers, laundry, sharp little toys under my bare feet, the alphabet, and potty training. But if I sweep through, succeeding to my own satisfaction in all of these areas, and do not walk with God, I have missed what I was made for. God may take what I did and do something with it, but He will not flow through it and work out His plan for my life.

Here are some things I have learned about temptation, and I'll make another post about the Biblical way to fight it.

Do fight temptation. Do not ignore it or let it run it’s course in your life. James 1:14-15 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Sin will destroy you, and the Bible says that if we resist the devil he will flee. It also commands us to stand. (Eph. 6)

Do not try to fight in the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)” Do not try to go to battle with the force of your will as your ally. You will fail. You will fail. You will fail! Satan has been tempting humans for thousands of years. Do not think he has never seen your kind before. He knew man well in the garden of Eden. He knew man well in Job’s time. Since that time he has escorted millions of souls into hell and destroyed millions of lives God wanted to use. You will not outsmart him, he will outsmart you. You will think you resisted his frontal attack and your heart will slowly fill with contentment and pride. Have I emphasized enough? Do not fight Satan with your hands! You are a lump, he will wipe you out! You need a weapon and God’s power, and it’s waiting for you to use it.

The main thing, and as I said before, the main thing in all of the Christian life is this; Gal 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." This is essential. If you do not walk in the Spirit, doing any number of biblical things to avoid temptation will only make you uncomfortable. It will not give you more power. That is because you are in obedience to the flesh, and the flesh WANTS to sin. Let's grow in this grace also!

Would you call this a sleeping disorder?

"Drop, Flop, and Snore Syndrome"

There is also a history of this behaviour.

Please disregard the strange clothing. This child also likes to get into the cloths closet and indiscriminately choose clothing. I usually let her wear what she puts on for a while, even if it is on the wrong limbs and upside down.

The first picture is in front of the couch. Flop. The second is almost under my bed. Plop.

Cuter than a bug'

A Budding Theologian

Rebecca was sitting in the kitchen while I was working and holding my Bible in her lap. She'd been thinking. (Keep in mind she's four.)

"Is Jesus the Word of God?"

"Yes, He is." This question didn't surprise me too much because we were talking about this last week. The next question surprised me, though.

"Is Jesus the Bible?"

Huh! Good question!

I answered that one by telling her that the Bible is the only place we can get to know Jesus-the Bible is how Jesus shows Himself to us. But I had to put on my thinking cap.

Dirt, Part III

The saga continues. I doubt my readers are as interested in what happenes with the family washing situation as my family. (The ones who couldn't seem to find clean clothes for a while.)

God sent in the funds to purchase a brand new washer for me. I've never had a new one all to myself before, and I'll be the first to tell you I don't deserve this. This one doubles as entertainment for the kids, since it's a front loader with a glass door, and they will sit there and stare at it while it sloshes back and forth.

So as far as demanding "Give me back my dirt!" let me just say, trust the Lord when it comes to the "dirt" in your life. He has better things for us, and I'm not talking about washing machines. I'm talking about knowing Him, walking with him, looking for the crown He wants to give us that will not rust and fall apart.

April 10!

Dad,

You taught me how to pray. You showed me how much brighter the stars are at four a.m. You wrote numerous poems for me-most silly, some very deep. You introduced me to my Saviour, and baptized me in one very cold lake. You taught me how to notice deer grazing on the side of the road and you taught me to love reading out loud. You were my first hero, and you showed me to depend on God and trust His Word.

I can thank you for showing me to just believe God, and because of that, God has been able to bless me in too many ways to count. Thanks Dad, for giving me such riches to carry with me in my walk with God, to let Him add to, and to give to my own kids. God bless you and Happy Birthday!

B.B. (Don't you dare tell anyone what that means!)

A New Twist on the Shepherd's Song

We sing a song that is based on Psalm 23, the shepherd's psalm. It goes like this, "The Lord is my shepherd, I'll walk with Him alway, He leads by still waters, I'll walk with Him allway. Allway, allway, I'll walk with Him allway. Allway, allway, I'll walk with Him allway!"

You can sing it in a round, and it's pretty. I never thought much about the deep significance of the message of this little song, and the psalm it comes from, until I heard my little Ruth belting out at the top of her lungs, "My way! My way! I'll walk with Him my way!"

The question is, how do I sing this song? I surrendered to do His will, but do I try to do it my way?

Sequal to "Give Me Back My Dirt!"

Now you will know...."the rest of the story"!

Well the morning I posted "Give Me Back My Dirt!", the Lord was speaking to me along those lines after reading my Bible and hearing the children squabbling, so I posted what was on my heart, and thought piously, "Well I hope that's a blessing to someone!" Blogging about things that are on my heart is a way to get it out where I can see it and make more sense of it, so it helps me too. I was quite pleased with myself, until an hour later when (ominous drum roll please) my washing machine broke.

Would you believe that right after that precious message from the Lord, one little convenience appliance breaking, and I was all ready to throw a fit! At least I wanted desperately to. What does God have to do, whack me upside the head with a two by four?! He prepared me perfectly and always provides the strength in every situation. He has never let me down. Sometimes the things I am willing to get angry about astonishes me when I think about it from His point of view!

All we do is only by His grace, and I have only just begun the grace journey. I've got a long way to go folks! I'm so glad He put me here, and is so patient and gentle with me, understanding and faithful always.

Thanks to His preparation, I was able to stop and chose to laugh instead. I have a mountain of laundry, but we still have everything we need and then some. And God keeps bringing in the blessings! See previous post for that!

Heavenly Celebration!

Join in! For the first time today, Ryan was able to personally take someone in Spanish to the foot of the cross and see them saved! Glory Hallelujah!

Watch what you say!

My husband was witnessing to a man at his house, facing a parking lot that was on a hill. While he was speaking to the man, he heard this for off cry of "Car! Car!". He ignored it and continued to witness, and the man was saying, "I don't need God. I have my heart, I have my mind, I have my legs, I have my self, I don't need Him." At that moment, the yelling got louder, the man looked behind Ryan and his soul winning partner and jumped back. Ryan turned and jumped back just in time. A three year old had climbed into a car in the parking lot, locked the doors, and released the brake. The car slammed into the house with a crash. Amazingly, no-one was hurt, and nothing was harmed. The man just sat there staring as people gathered around got the child out of the car and comforted her and pulled the car away.

Pray for him, we think maybe God was trying to get his attention. What do you think?

New cheap way to travel!

My anti-clausterphobe at it again.

One historical day for us

Something happened not a full hour after my last post that is interesting and sure to make a great post, but I haven't had time to blog about it, and what happened today is some much more important, I cannot compare the two.

My husband preached his first sermon in Spanish today. Twice! A missionary who pastors two churches asked him to come, and we were in one church in the morning and the other in the evening. Ryan has been working on this sermon for a long time, writing every word, translating it and reading it aloud many, many times. I could tell the Lord was helping him, and God was truly working through us, limited though we are. In the morning service, a family; dad, mom, and teenage daughter all came forward. The pastor went to the front and led to the Lord right in front of everyone! What a beautiful thing to see! In the evening service, a young couple received Christ as their Saviour.

All I can say is; GLORIA DIOS!

GIVE ME BACK MY DIRT!!!!!

If I hear those words one more time....

I am peculiarly amused by the protectiveness of my kids over things that are completely worthless. They play on dirt, in dirt. There is enough dirt to go around for a hundred children. But they fight and war over the pound that they have in their hands. This is a testimony to the fact that children are foolish by nature.

I would never behave that way. Would I? How does God see my value system? Honestly, I think He shakes His head at me like I shake my head at my girls. Think about it--in heaven, the purest gold is the pavement. What do I value? What does God think about it?

2Co 4:6-7 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

God put His wonderful treasure into something He values far beyond gold or precious stones; His children!

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

So where is God's heart? You know, when I hear my kids fighting over worthless things, I am moved to correct their values. I think God wants me to value His truth, the gospel of salvation, and the precious souls of people more than I do, and value things, wealth, and comfort less than I do.

The treasure of my salvation is something I will always have, and cannot lose. Thank the Lord for saving you today, if He has. If you need to accept the gift of God, please don't cling to something in your life that is utterly worthless to pass up the priceless gift of salvation!

Jesus spoke to a rich man who had kept the law all his life. He was a "good"person, and he wanted to know how he could come to God. Jesus challenged him to give up all his possessions and follow Him, and the man went away sorrowing. What is in your life that you will not give up to accept Christ? Nothing is worth the loss of your soul! How it must grieve the Lord to see people refuse salvation for the vain things of the world like riches, position, or even family relationships. God gave the most precious Treasure He had to save you, His own Son. (And He owns all the treasure in the universe by right.) That was how much He treasures you. Don't pass the treasure He wants to give you!

AHA!

I found a place to help me with my technical ingnorance here. How cool is that? Now I feel like a real blogger. Now let's post this thing and see if it works!

A Day to Remember

I wanted to tell the story of our picture day. Every time we get our pics done it is a huge trial. I don't know why but the devil just fights it and this time was no exception. Of course, we had made the slightly insane decision to go to Chucky Cheese (codename, CC, or the "Charles and the Dairy product", or "Pizza Rat") to celebrate Rebecca's birthday (the previous Sunday) and finally let her open her presents.

Pictures first. We got out of the house at 11. The camera was broken at the Walmart photo dept. The girl gave us directions. Bad ones. We looked and looked for the other Walmart for a couple of hours, all the while trying to keep the increasing hungry and now sleepy children "picture" pretty. We finally found the Walmart, but couldn't get in before lunch because the kids were STARVING and there wasn't an opening until 3:30. (It was 2.)

in the car, Oh, and the kids took my foundation out of my makeup bag, so when I went to do my makeupAAAAGGGHHH!!!!! (I am ashamed to admit I threw a hissy fit and had to apologize.) We picked up some makeup at the Walmart after one of those conversations,
"You don't need makeup! You look fine!"
"Do you see this rosacia?!"
"What, your cheeks are rosy. It looks good!"
"No way! I look like a clown!" etc. (I'm glad my husband likes the look of my face, but I don't believe cameras do at all.)

Anyway, at CC, David chose to "shine" and he "shined" loudly The. Whole. Time. I took him out to the car to feed him. (Modesty was offensive to him for some reason that day.) Twice. Still not happy. Ryan took the girls around the fun stuff at cc while I bounced David and smiled apologetically at the other people trying to eat. The girls had a lot of fun. The only pizza spot on the clothes was on Ruth's skirt, and I turned it around backwards for the pictures so you can't tell.

Then we went in for the pics. We were late, but the lady there was great. The last Walmart photo person was definatley not "called". But this one took really good pictures, engaged the kids and even got Mr. Grumpage to stop grumping long enough for the picture.

After we left we were about halfway to the border when we got a cell phone call from the lady at the photo dept. "Did you leave your purse?"

Went back and got it. And got back. "One of those days" doesn't begin to describe it, but all in all, everything we set out to do got done. I am still trying to figure out how that happened.